The Japan-U.S. Trade Agreement (JUSTA), the pinnacle for modern trade policy between the two allies, is now in force.
While it's not a comprehensive trade deal, the JUSTA will remove barriers for billions worth of traded agricultural and industrial goods. Leaders in Washington and Tokyo can rightly highlight the "win-win" benefits of the agreement. And so, over the coming year we should expect other economic issues besides trade to take the lead for future policy discussions and coordination.
Japan-U.S. trade policy will instead take a back seat in the next 10 months to issues like investment policy. Meanwhile, all eyes will be on Washington as the presidential debates and election take the spotlight. Washington will become a political and rhetorical minefield. Any substantive discussion on trade policy will be out of the question as trade continues to become a highly politicized issue. But Japan-U.S. policy coordination will still continue on a working level.
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